Khan

6 minutes ago, Vee said:

I would love to see Sly again but I doubt he's in town. 

Oh, he's in town alright!  He's working for Pikeman.   

1 hour ago, Vee said:

Since Ron got axed I think FV has largely been running his fiefdom. I don't think it's about the network much at all. I never got the sense the network gave much of a shít what was running at that slot in these last 8 years so long as it turned a decent profit and was cheap - I think the show's weak, nonconfrontational storytelling, generic young white leads, Black C-story, zillions of cute kids and OLTL favorites/soap star cameos are all just Frank from top to bottom, trying to do the least in order to keep the show inoffensive and alive while also inserting all his preferences.

Again, if that's Frank's goal, then he isn't aware that he's actually doing the opposite, keeping GH so inoffensive that he's boring the audience (which, as I've said countless times, is the worst sin you could commit in entertainment).

But I say that out of total respect for him and for the pressures he obviously faces everyday at the show.

21 minutes ago, titan1978 said:

Who are all these children? And why are they all on the same day and at the Q mansion?

Again, something I really needed to hear Tracy say, lol.

25 minutes ago, Liberty City said:

the fact Bold has largely ignored the community, despite it being a FASHION soap, is ridiculous.

ICAM!!

IMO, a big problem with today's soaps is that they don't have any characters who are striving for something.  Viewers really respond to characters who strive to better themselves in some way, or who yearn for something (or someone) that is elusive to them.  So, I would hope that TG hands us a nice mix of haves and have nots.

51 minutes ago, carolineg said:

BUT I do think he's well liked by most, easy to work with and does enough to keep the show's lights on.

I agree, and I think it's great that he's so easy to work with, too.  Actors especially need a producer who is attuned to their needs.  But it doesn't seem as if all that admiration for FV has resulted in an emotionally charged show.

14 hours ago, BetterForgotten said:

Maurice tried to make an excuse about budgeting for soaps today, but Shelley wasn’t having it. She was clear that the people producing soaps today don’t know how to produce them with emotion and skill, and that shouldn’t take an extreme budget to do. What should be core scenes end up feeling like a deflated ballon. Soap producers today lack the basic understanding of how to milk the emotion and deep meaning out of scenes that need it when they’re tasked with translating them to the screen.

When Al Rabin and Shelley Curtis left DAYS, they took the heart of that show with them.

To those who, like MB, want to make excuses about budgeting, consider this: SFT's original sets were essentially black-painted screens, with window frames held up by wires to suggest windows; and when they needed bushes to suggest an outdoor scene, they tied twigs to music stands.  Yet, I'll bet that if you were to ask someone who was around then, they'll tell you that watching just one, 15-minute episode of SFT was more thrilling than watching an entire week or month of GH today.

On 5/4/2024 at 7:22 AM, DramatistDreamer said:

Byron Allen is not still trying to buy Paramount, is he??

I hope not, lol.  It'd break my heart to see the empire that Zukor and Lasky built get taken over by Byron "No Budget, No Problem!" Allen.

1 hour ago, Franko said:

Speaking of that, I still smirk at Richard throwing in a plug for the "Live-it" plan while talking to Bryan on the day of Luke & Jennifer's ill-fated wedding.

Before we dealt any meals, or sweated to any oldies...

16 hours ago, Vee said:

I think he and Ron had one in 2012, however deeply flawed - keep the show alive, keep the spirit of the lost ABC soaps alive with various crossovers, fuse them together, etc. But these days I think it's mostly just keep GH on, keep the show unproblematic and utilize/employ his preferred people and favored actors or kids as much as possible.

14 hours ago, Vee said:

But I feel like the last decade in particular has largely been about just basic subsistence, survival and not rocking the boat or jeopardizing his own position. 

IOW, you're saying that Frank Valentini is playing it safe and has been for quite some time.  Which is a real good way to kill any soap opera even as you think you're doing the opposite.

You know why Norman Lear named his second company "T.A.T. Productions"?  Because, it was short for "Tuchus Affen Tisch," which is Yiddish for "putting one's ass on the line."  That's what Frank's gotta do.  He's gotta put his ass (cute as it is!) on the old line.  He's gotta stop playing it safe and instead play the hell out of every scene, regardless of anything, including where it lands on the makeshift "Wheel of Fortune" wheel that has become GH's taping schedule.  Lord knows I hated JFP's overall approach, but at the end of the day, her scenes had energy.

13 hours ago, Vee said:

It's nothing to apologize for lol.

Well, I know how much you enjoyed the last years of OLTL on ABC, and I don't wanna take that enjoyment away from you, or from anyone else.  I know a lot of people would disagree, but I felt the "soul" of OLTL had evaporated long, long before the network finally pulled the plug on it.

And please do not get me started on the Nurses' Ball, which ceased being relevant the day a dead body turned up in the middle of the festivities.

16 hours ago, Vee said:

I remember well when FV was interviewed in the mid-2000s by Logan or someone, during the Dena Higley interregnum at OLTL. The fans hated the show at the time, Logan or whoever the reporter was hated it, the cast hated it and we learned many years later from Erika Slezak that FV hated it too - hated Dena's work, hated that she never wrote a long-form bible he could plan for, etc. But when repeatedly pressed in this interview on the lessons he had learned from the difficult year for the show or what he had to say re: fan complaints over Higley and her stories, FV never wavered or gave an inch to criticism. He said they were pleased with the stories they were telling and looking forward to next year. That's his public face and it's never going to change, because IMO he is always about survival.

Well, to be fair, I wouldn't ever badmouth my own show to the public either, lol.  I might say, "Well, yes, we've experienced some ups and downs - not everything worked as our team had hoped - but we're confident that our show remains in a very healthy place."  But even I wouldn't have told Logan or whoever, "That Dena bitch couldn't write her way out of a paper bag," lol.

It doesn't take a budgeting whiz to have a producer or head writer with vision.  It just takes someone who can answer one, very simple question: What is this show about?

I'm reminded all the time of Al Rabin, who, as DAYS' EP, always asked after every scene, "What have we shared with our audience?".  He, along with his team (including Shelley Curtis), understood that it isn't about how much money you throw at the screen - although, for sure, you make every penny you use count - but about finding the emotional thread in every storyline, in every episode, in every scene. 

It doesn't take a lot of money to produce the kind of heart-stopping drama that was Rabin and other EP's trademark, and it doesn't take a lot of time either.  But it takes heart, and that's something that I've never seen in FV's work, either on GH, or even (sorry, @Vee) on OLTL.

59 minutes ago, Franko said:

Unless he had a local show in L.A., Richard appeared on GH first, followed by the nationally syndicated Richard Simmons Show from 1980-84.

Thanks, @Franko!  Mama Khan was more of a GL fan, so I don't recall much of Simmons' time on GH, but I *do* remember TRSS, lol.

21 hours ago, Vee said:

But it's FV's halfway house at this point.

I, for one, would like to know why.  Why does he always keep so many actors on the payroll when there's only so much airtime and budget to play with?  Even his longtime mentor, Paul Rauch, wouldn't have thought twice before jettisoning large groups of characters, so why is FV different?  Does he hate to see anyone out of a job?

I hesitate these days to criticize any soap, for a number of reasons, but when it comes to GH and FV...?  I think it's great that, by all accounts, FV is terrific to work for - not to mention, he's also easy on the eyes, lol - but I just don't understand him as a producer.  More specifically, I don't understand his vision, or know if he even HAS a vision (beyond sluggish storylines and bloated casts with bland leads and overly precocious child actors). 

Like another poster said, he keeps the trains moving on schedule, but we don't need Mr. Conductor from "Shining Time Station" to produce GH.  We need someone with creativity and verve, and for me, those qualities just aren't there. 

Even when Elizabeth Korte and Patrick Mulcahey write great scenes, they still land with a thud on screen, because FV adds nothing besides turning the cameras on and off.  A great or even good soap opera scene should kick down the [!@#$%^&*] doors like a rock star; but at best, a great or good scene on GH merely nudges you awake with its' elbow.

GH needs a leader - be it a HW, be it an EP, be it both - with an Elton John or Mick Jagger-like attitude to the work.  Someone who's gonna give us balls-to-the-wall soap opera - even with no budget! - because they know that all the network can do to them is fire them.

21 hours ago, Vee said:

Oh, absolutely. But it's FV's halfway house at this point. I hope that can change.

Even if it doesn't change, or change anytime soon, I could learn to love the super-sized cast, but only if they learn how to juggle actors' guarantees better.  Either craft more umbrella storylines that draw in more characters, or take a page from the final, threadbare season of KNOTS LANDING and make those gaps where actors suddenly disappear and reappear without notice work for the storytelling.

1 hour ago, Vee said:

It's what FV has been doing for many years. I remember Hillary B. Smith, Brian Kerwin and others talking about it at length at OLTL for the oral history, saying they had no idea whose funeral they were at, what was going on, etc. On the one hand I get it - Frank's piecemeal method kept that show under budget and vital, allegedly paying for much of the rest of the overages of the other two soaps. It's done much the same for GH's survival. For all we know it may be the only way now to do a functional soap at these numbers without ending up looking like Y&R, with everyone having 'meetings' at the coffeehouse or greenscreening it up. But I have to think there is a better way to thread the needle at least a little bit. If you can expand the scenes as they have done, you can experiment a little with the flow of production so it doesn't sometimes feel like the William S. Burroughs writing method.

Granted, I know less than nothing about these things, but I feel like if GH simply were to pare down the number of (recurring and contract) cast members and storylines, the rest soon would fall into place.  You really don't need a cast of thousands anymore on these shows, when 15-18 regular, on-contract cast members would probably do.

Which came first: his appearances on GH, or "The Richard Simmons Show"?

5 minutes ago, Vee said:

Though I think if you get too in the weeds you run the risk of emulating classic Y&R, which while I'm not dogging it I don't know that GH would ever be great at. 

I agree.  Of course, it's still odd to me that we're even talking about a spa/fragrance/cosmetics/skin care company on a show called GENERAL. HOSPITAL.

(I'm sorry, I love a lot of what EK/PM are doing, but someone's gotta bring this show back to being exclusively about the hospital someday, lol.)

Just now, Vee said:

Synclavion??

I had the exact same reaction when I heard it.

52 minutes ago, carolineg said:

Deception was a spa in the beginning then Laura at some point opened it again I think but the story was scrapped and it just faded away.  I am pretty sure all Brenda did was shill perfume.  Like the one scent they had was called Deception.  It wasn't multiple products

No idea what Carly/Laura were selling in the early 2000's when Gia was the face, but it seemed like makeup.  And now it seems like skincare and laser products lol.

Now there's an ad campaign: "Deception -- It's Whatever You Want It To Be"!

If Deception is a cosmetics or skin care company, then it DEFINITELY needs more than one line and spokesmodel.  I mean, where's the line for WOC?  Or "Deception Silver" for females 65 and over?  How 'bout a non-GMO or cruelty free product line?  You get what I'm saying, lol.

1 hour ago, I Am A Swede said:

That sounds like people you would see on The Ricki Lake Show

Exactly, lol!

On 4/23/2024 at 11:51 PM, Soaplovers said:

Two of the season 9 episodes you mentioned... I remember my late mom raving about both of them for being different.  She much preferred the one you mentioned had the twist ending (she was in the camp that liked the clever twist)

I kinda like those episodes as well.  They really shake up your expectations (which isn't easy for any long-running series to do) without turning MSW into an entirely different show.  I just wish Lansbury and her team had taken more chances like that in subsequent seasons, because it seems like once they had cracked the formula, they never strayed from it not even a little bit.

8 hours ago, Paul Raven said:

You're beautiful as you are- but you need to spend your hard earned $$$ on all this stuff we're shilling. 

LOL!!

2 hours ago, carolineg said:

As much as I like the idea of one Face of Deception, it seems like a very dated concept.

IKR?  Especially in our current socio-political climate.

Of course, there's no conflict in my concept, unless Lucy faces pushback from someone from within the company, but one major issue that I have atm with GH is that it operates as if it's still 2011.  We've come a long way from that period of time, I think; and IMO, it's just not okay anymore for something like the FoD to be exclusively white and cis female.

2 hours ago, carolineg said:

I also am slightly confused at Deception's concept.  Is it just skincare?  Do they have make up?  Because in the 90's it was perfume, IIRC.

And I swear it started out as a spa, lol!

12 hours ago, kalbir said:

Or named after alcohol or luxury cars.

PREACH!!

14 hours ago, Faulkner said:

I wouldn’t mind seeing a Demarco or a Demetrius or a Teyana. Some recognizably Black names.

Demarco and Demetrius is one thing, but when you start having names like Synclavion or Telekeshia....

28 minutes ago, vanguard said:

Chardonnay and Lexus as this show's dynamic young black super couple.

I will never forgive Ron Cowen and Daniel Lipman for introducing on "Sisters" a black, male drag queen with the drag name "Chardonnay LeBlanc."  I mean, you barely have any actors of color on your show, even as extras; and when you do finally give us one, that's who and what you come up with??

11 hours ago, DRW50 said:

Angela Lansbury's brother Edgar has passed at age 94.

https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/lifestyle/arts/edgar-lansbury-dead-subject-roses-angela-1235890334/

I'm very sorry to hear that.  Edgar was highly respected w/in the theatre industry, and he had extraordinary tastes.

His son, David, appeared in at least three episodes of MSW: "Moving Violation" (season 7, episode 13), "Murder on Madison Avenue" (season 8, episode 22) and "Threshold of Fear" (season 9, episode 16).

Thanks, @DRW50, for sharing the news.

1 hour ago, Sapounopera said:

people don't have 80s mini series names 

Similarly, I hope the African-American characters don't have stereotypically African-American names that don't really exist outside of the Maury show.

On 5/3/2024 at 12:53 PM, DramatistDreamer said:

I really hope that MVJ avoids the pitfalls that today’s daytime network soaps have fallen into, staying wedded to the same tired tropes and stereotypical themes. Leave the old 20th century Dynasty style catfights where they belong.

But she was so GOOD at it:

nm